Alexa and Evan are back with #SocialJusticeWeekly! This time, they're talking about a new immigrant visa rule from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), giving some background, arguments on both sides, and what the Reform Jewish Movement has to say. Watch the video here, read the transcript below, and take action!

By all accounts I’m typical SoCal girl; whenever I have the choice, flip flops are my go-to. Each of the last 3 summers, I’ve had life changing experiences with Mitzvah Corps in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and this past summer in the Pacific Northwest. I’d not typically been one to insert myself in a new group of people, but my experiences with Mitzvah Corps have shown me the value of stepping outside of my comfort zone.

I met AmeriCorps members for the first time when I travelled to New Orleans on a URJ Mitzvah Corps trip after my sophomore year of high school in 2012. While rebuilding a house with the St. Bernard Project, the volunteer coordinator and our site supervisors were all AmeriCorps members. Funnily enough, I found a journal entry I wrote after spending the day working and learning from them, where I wrote “I instantly felt connected to them and was mildly obsessed.”

In these pictures, we captured our new friendships built while working as counselors at the International Rescue Committee's summer camp. Spending time with the campers has given us the opportunity to see the world through their bright eyes and feel connections through their smiles.

The courage to fly across the country alone, the excitement to explore, the willingness to learn about new people and to share about oneself, the invitation to be someone’s partner, the ability to ask for and give were evidence of a strong, unwavering commitment to one another and the ideals of the program.

As a result of challenging each other, the prayer and varying notions of God became more meaningful. Both of us believe that by accepting God as a complicated figure, we can begin to accept our complex selves and occasional failures too.